London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Police Scotland make repeat visits to break up illegal house parties

Police Scotland make repeat visits to break up illegal house parties

Police Scotland's latest data on Covid breaches reveals that officers are repeatedly visiting the same properties to break up parties.


At the beginning of the university year, police were called out to a student halls of residence in Edinburgh

The call logs, which have been obtained by BBC Scotland, also show that a number of people have been handed multiple fines.

On 28 August the police were given the power to break up house parties contravening social gathering rules.

Since that date, officers have been called out nearly 5,000 times.

Police break up hundreds of parties every week

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made it clear that giving Police Scotland enhanced powers was necessary to ensure socialising continued in a safe and responsible manner.

The data, received through a Freedom of Information request, listed incidents which included:

*  a party of 10 people found at a Glasgow address, where the householder had previously been issued with two fixed penalty notices (FPNs)

*  in the north east six people were warned after being found at two different parties in the same evening

*  officers attended a Glasgow address following a report of a noisy party. Fines were issued to five people - four of whom had previously received Covid-related fines

*  in Ayrshire people attempted to jump out of the windows of a property when police arrived. This was the second time officers had attended the address having previously issued a fine to the householder

*  and police went to a Renfrewshire address where they gave fines to two party-goers who had previously been issued with a warning

At the mid-November point, 68% of house parties had taken place in council areas under tier three restrictions, and 28% in tier two areas.

Police Scotland declined to comment on whether such incidents suggested fixed penalty notices had failed to be a sufficient deterrent.

'Spreading the virus'


Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said: "Where officers encounter wilful and persistent breaches they will act decisively to enforce the law - this includes consideration of serious charges including culpable and reckless conduct.

"The chief constable has repeatedly underlined that house parties and relatively small gatherings can have a significant influence on spreading the virus and are not permitted."



Police data showed that officers had been alerted to 4,879 gatherings between 28 August and 22 November.

In the first part of November police attended about 300 incidents each week with 227 of them deemed to have breached restrictions.

However, the force has suggested the number is likely to be greater as it only counted formal call-outs and not incidents on patrol.

So far, more than 2,000 fines have been issued and 279 arrests have been made.



The information also revealed that the proportion of parties breaching restrictions is increasing in areas like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Tayside.

Police Scotland said "it will continue to explain the rules to the public and encourage people to take personal responsibility and do the right thing".



In the week covering Halloween and Bonfire Night, 84% of the 365 parties that took place were in breach of coronavirus restrictions.

The incidents included:

*  officers attending a Glasgow party where they found three people who had been tested for Covid-19 earlier that day - but had not yet received their results

*  in Tayside a fight broke out when police attended a house party with 60 "intoxicated" people

*  police were tipped off about a party in Glasgow with 200 people present and loud music playing. Officers said none of them were wearing face masks or socially distancing. More than 60 fines were issued

*  and more than 20 people attended a Dundee party, with many of them escaping through the back garden when police arrived

A Scottish government spokesman said: "Ministers have been consistently clear that we want to see these laws work through high levels of public compliance, rather than relying on enforcement."

Social media advertising


There has also been concerns that large-scale parties are being promoted on social media platforms.

Police document highlights included:

*  Forth Valley police being alerted to an on-going party outside Bonnybridge which had been advertised on social media. On arriving, officers found a 48-seater bus, numerous cars outside and more than 100 party-goers

*  and the police were called to an Edinburgh party where the location was disclosed 24 hours before the event.

'I won't be paying fines just for meeting my friends'


"Kate" has been issued four fines totalling £1,240 for attending illegal house parties across Glasgow.

But she insists she won't be paying "just for meeting my friends through a lockdown with rules that don't make sense anyway".

Her most recent fine was for £940.

"That's the one I'm most annoyed about as the police officers were awful to everyone in the party," she says. "They were trying to make us feel scared."

Despite Police Scotland's insistence on warning first and fining later, Kate says when officers arrived "they just started giving out the fines even though we would have been happy to leave."

She says she has been fined for going to small gatherings, as well as house parties with up to 60 people.

"But that's the fault of the people renting out the flats and houses for allowing us to go in the first place," she says.

She's also not worried about transmitting or contracting coronavirus at the events.

"I've been to multiple parties and not one person I know has had it from the parties".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×